


How Soon Is Now?

by xslytherclawx



Series: Young, Dumb, and Stung [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 2000s, Alternate Universe - America, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexual Male Character, Coming Out, Gay Otabek Altin, Gen, Inspired by Clueless (1995), Muslim Otabek Altin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2019-12-25 09:59:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18258992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: The guy who lives across the hall invites Otabek to the LGBT student group meeting on campus. Otabek wonders how he can tell.(2000s/American/Clueless AU)





	How Soon Is Now?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GoodbyeBlueMonday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodbyeBlueMonday/gifts).



> This takes place before the main storyline of Crush'd. Title is from the Smiths song of the same name, obviously.

Otabek, if he were honest, didn’t really get terribly much out of the activities fair for incoming freshmen. So, afterward, he lay on his bed, willing himself to put up the vintage Morrissey poster he’d bought on eBay for the express use in his new dorm, when there was a knock on his door.

Figuring it was the RA, he rolled off of his bed and opened the door.

Instead of his RA, he craned his neck up to look at a tall, olive-skinned guy with bright brown eyes and long curly hair.

Otabek sighed. He recognised the guy from his floor meeting, but couldn’t remember his name. He was another freshman, though, definitely. He looked, to Otabek, pretty Middle Eastern, so he hoped that he wasn’t about to attempt to recruit him to some Muslim student union.

“Hey!” The guy said, with some accent Otabek couldn’t place. “I’m Ari Cohen, I live across the hall.”

That didn’t _sound_ like a Muslim last name, but who knew. “Otabek Altin. I live here.”

“Right,” Ari said, smiling. “Anyway, I’m new to the area - pretty new to the country, still, to be honest - and I wanted to know if you’d be interested in going to the LGBT union meeting?”

“Uh?” Otabek said, trying to process this. Why did this guy think he was gay? He was right, of course, but that didn’t mean anything. “What… what makes you think I’m gay?”

“I didn’t say _anything_ about gay, and there will be plenty of allies at this meeting, too,” Ari said. His tone was still friendly, but Otabek caught the underlying hesitation. “I mean,” he said, “I’m bi, personally, but a lot of people tend to generalise.”

“Oh,” Otabek said, unsure of how to further respond.

“If you’re not interested, that’s fine,” Ari said, “but I’m trying to meet people and it’d be nice to go with someone, you know?”

Otabek nodded and wondered how he could _tell_. “Um, maybe,” he said.

Ari smiled. “Let me know! I think things like these are easier with another person. I like your Smiths poster by the way.”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Otabek said.

“I love the Smiths,” Ari continued. “Are you a Morrissey guy or a Marr guy?”

“Uh, Morrissey?”

Ari grimaced. “I’m a Marr kind of guy myself. But I still love Morrissey. I mean, how could I not? _Meat is Murder_ changed my life.”

Otabek blinked. “ _Meat is Murder_?”

Ari nodded and leaned against the door frame in a way that looked effortlessly cool. “Yeah. I think I was fourteen when I first heard it and I haven’t eaten meat since. This was easier in Israel, of course.”

Otabek didn’t really want to think about _why_ , but the word Israel caught Otabek’s attention. “You’re Israeli?”

Ari nodded. “Born and raised – but I don’t live there anymore. My mom’s job got transferred to New York when I was sixteen.”

Otabek wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, so he hesitated. “Uh, I’m from southern California.”

“Oh, cool!” Ari said. “I always wanted to go to California. I like New York, but it can be really _cold_. I guess that will be a problem here, too.” Ari smiled. “Anyway, I have a few more people to ask, but I hope to see you at the meeting!”

“Uh, well,” Otabek said. He knew, really, that he needed to put himself out there or else he’d be friendless and alone. “I’ll… try to stop by,” he said. After all, he knew he was gay, and going to a club to meet other LGBT students didn’t seem like such a bad idea. He was in university on the other side of the country; there was no way his parents would find out unless he told them… and he wasn’t about to do that.

Ari grinned. “Great! Especially since we’re neighbors, it should be fun! And besides, I need someone to help me explore Philadelphia!”

Well, Otabek thought, that wouldn’t be too bad. “I don’t know Philly any better than you do,” Otabek said.

“Well,” Ari said, “all I know about Philly besides one tour of the school comes from _It’s Always Sunny_.”

* * *

In the end, Otabek decided to go to the meeting. He tried to slink into the back unnoticed, but, sure enough, Ari saw him. To his credit, he didn’t make a fuss, and instead walked over to him. He didn’t say anything to Otabek during the meeting, but afterwards he turned to him and said, “Hey, you came!”

Otabek nodded.

“You’re not very talkative, are you?” Ari asked.

Otabek shrugged. He knew he didn’t really talk a lot, but he didn’t think it was much of a problem. He’d always managed to get his own circle of friends, anyway.

“I know! Let’s go get some ice cream! We’re gonna be floormates, and we should probably get to know each other!” Ari looked at Otabek expectantly, so he relented.

“Okay,” he said.

For someone who claimed they didn’t know the city, Ari managed to find an ice cream shop that was open at night pretty quickly. He ordered a scoop of cookie dough and a scoop of moose tracks, while Otabek just got a single scoop of chocolate.

“So,” Ari said. “I’m from Tel Aviv. My mother works for a corporation, my dad is a doctor, and I’m an only child.”

Otabek knew this was the part where he told Ari that he was from Pasadena, that his mother was a doctor and his father was a lawyer, and that he had two older siblings, and that was what he _wanted_ to say, but instead, “Do your parents know?” came out instead.

“Know that I’m bi?” Ari asked with a directness and ease that startled Otabek.

Otabek nodded.

“Well, yes, of course. We’re very close, and they’re very accepting. You know, I have a cousin who’s gay. I don’t think it was surprising for them. After all… I don’t think other boys liked Leo DiCaprio as much as I did.”

“Oh,” Otabek said.

“I know I’m lucky,” Ari said. “It’s not the case for most people.”

“My parents… they wouldn’t…”

“You don’t _have_ to tell them,” Ari said.

“So, what, I marry a guy and they just… never know? They think I want to be a lawyer.”

“And you don’t.”

Otabek shook his head. “I got away with lit as pre-law, but I don’t think they’ll be very happy when I start applying to graduate schools for literature instead of law school.”

“Do you have anyone else?”

Otabek thought, briefly, to his grandmother’s ex-husband. Wasn’t Kolya’s grandson gay? “Maybe?”

“Well… my parents like all of my friends. They can adopt you.”

“I’ve never… _told_ anyone.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Ari promised. “I have straight friends, too. And you said you’re from California. Does your family still live there?”

“My parents do, and my brother. My sister, Anara, goes to Johns Hopkins…”

“Then you can make excuses for breaks and summer, if you want,” Ari suggested. “My parents have a guest room. We go to Israel during winter break, usually, to visit family.”

“Ari, no offense but… you don’t even know me.”

“I know,” Ari said. “But we’re friends now, aren’t we?”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in uhhh it must've been 2017, and never posted it. I think I intended on finishing it, but I think the ending I have here works.


End file.
